Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

Experiments in Backchannel: Collaborative Presentations Using Social Software, Google Jockeys, and Immersive Environments The earliest paper in backchanneling. I've seen the quieter students come out. Also, having Google Jockeys is essential to the process. Also, a way to archive the channel and sort of agreed upon use for the backchannel is helpful. tags : education , learning , research WNY Education Associates » Allowing the Dispositions of Practice to Guide Online Exchanges Angela Stockman has excellent ponderings and points about the issues of supporting face to face communities with online communities and why many resist such an effort. Great thoughts to consider for those who are working to move towards this. tags : education , educationalnetworking , socialnetworking Mr. Tweet -> Your Personal Networking Assistant! Very cool tool to help you get a handle on your twitter followers, find people you should follow and more. Neat tool. tags : education , learning The Edub...

Came across this cool service to analyze your blogging style called Typealyzer from the ETLMS Blog from Oakland Schools. (nice blogging going on over there, by the way.) So, here is what it said I am. ISTP - The Mechanics The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts. The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters. But the chart I found particularly fascinating was the one that showed the brain patterns used when writing here. It was heavy on the Thinking/ logic/ mathematics and also on the sensing - order/ habits/ details. I'm between a thinking, practica...

Buzzable hmmm Buzzable - twitter groups -- we've done things like this before. HOw can we do it for teachers. tags : education , learning , twitter Sculptypaint : Built with Processing Great tool for making sculptures in OpenSim or Second Life -- this is on my list to learn next! tags : education , learning , opensim , second_life , 3d , web3d Wikinomics» Blog Archive » Guest Blogger: “Collaboration: Concept, Power and Magic” by Julie Lindsay Julie's guest post over at the Wikinomics blog. Excellent excellent post about how to flatten your classroom. tags : education , learning , flatclassroom , professionaldevelopment , edu_trends Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Watching this video, I see teachers who are looking at blogs or wikis or any new technology and just not really sure what is going on. Love kitties anyway.  (Isn't it obvious?)

Getting ready for the amazing North Carolina (NCTIES) Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina next Thursday and CUE in Palm Springs, California on Friday! You know that so much of what is happening is not embodied in any one teacher but in all of us!  It is important to share the stories because this is what motivates teachers of all walks of life to realize that, YES, they CAN change and improve.  They can have the attention of their students again.  The students CAN love to come to school and clamor to get in their class.  It can and is being done. So, I'm on the hunt for stories. YOUR STORY!! If you've never commented on a blog, now's your chance, consider this a virtual tap on the shoulder . So, my question to you is, What is your story?  How have you made over your classroom using technology and what are the impacts you've seen? Please post your story or a link to your video, your words, or anything you have to share that should be told to teac...

The Ultimate Open Courseware Toolset: 60+ Directories, Search Engines, and Web Tools | The .Edu Toolbox Collection of everything open courseware. tags : education , opensource , opencourseware Plan '09 Birds of a Feather Sessions - NECC Ning IF you want to suggest a birds of a feather session, suggest it here!! tags : education , learning , necc Dialogue With Deon Author Deon Lien (over 30 years working in Education) has a blog now. tags : education , teaching , all_teachers The Fresh Air Fund Fresh Air hosts are needed in the northeastern US to help inner city children experience the "fresh air" this summer. tags : education , learning Certification Map | Where do you want to teach? A map that will help you see certification requirements by state for teaching. tags : education , learning , teaching , all_teachers FOXNews.com - Gmail Experiences Worldwide Crash - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News The weakness of cloud computing -- central servers...

I cannot state this teacher's name.   At least not now.  All I'll say is that she is a teacher on the NetGen project.  You wouldn't believe the struggles that some teachers have to go through to be a part of global collaborative projects. Every time, there are some teachers who apply who have to drop out because of lack of administrative support.  This year was: They won't unblock the ning. (Notice we're not asking to unblock all nings, just one url plus http://static.ning.com in order to let the content through.) Administrators don't see the purpose of global collaborative work.  (yes, someone said that!) My heart is broken for those excited teachers dashed upon the rocks of discouragement by those who cannot see past the four walls that close them in.  Closed minds can be the darkest places of all. Meet the NetGen Soldier But then, there is this bright light of hope.  We have a teacher who has had to get EVERYTHING unblocked - the wiki, t...

Girl Scout Cookies | Facebook Girl scouts head over to Facebook to sell their cookies. tags : education , facebook , learning Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

These are the basic wiki instructions to students and teachers on NetGen. Thought this would be helpful for some of you. Here are some notes to students and teachers for the most common questions about wikis. If you find a mistake: If I have typos, please feel free to fix them. Where they are: All of them are linked to this page - http://netgened.wikispaces.com/Teams The main topics are on the left. How editing works : We write the instructions in italics and ask them to delete it. If you delete it, how can everyone see the instructions? This FORCES the students to learn how ot use history -- just go to the history tab and look at the 1st copy of the page - the instructions are THERE. This forces them to learn about instructions and the power of the wiki. What goes on the wiki and what in the discussion tab? The wiki page should always be in FINAL form - so discussions go on the discussion tab - talking about the page. I use Wikipedia to show how this works. They ...

This is how Don Tapscott begins his conversation with the students and they are responding on the forum as we speak. Wow! What a great intro!  If you respond on your blog, please use the technorati tag netgen_stereotypes   (just copy that at the end) so we can aggregate responses from the blogosphere. Here is my response. "My generation was characterized by the television and rock music. I remember hearing someone on the Today show who had research to prove that loud rock music would interrupt our heart rhythms and make us unhealthy. Also, I remember that people said that we watched so much tv, so closely that we would have eye damage. To me, there are adults who are inter-generational relational and there are those who are generational gappers. The former are those who are willing to change and also, very often who love and enjoy and appreciate children and youth. The latter are often those who don't want to change, who have somehow forgotten the way that adults ste...

OK, this is an issue that many students ask, "Why do i need to capitalize?" (I intentionally did that lowercase.) Well, there is one main reason: Not everyone speaks English. Using a lowercase "i" and other things like "cu l8r" and "r u OK?" are part of a slang called "im-speak" or instant messaging speak because it developed to speed instant messaging. If you choose to use this in your personal communications, that is your choice. But here, we are professional students and one day, you will be a professional of some kind. In that case, if you do not capitalize you will be judged as someone who doesn't care about your language. But most importantly, IM speak is very rude to those who have English as a second language and so that just makes it poor Digital Citizenship. As a Digital Citizen, you want to be inclusive and helpful to others AND a good communicator. (Some who don't speak good English will also use thin...

NCTIES "Instruction 2.0 Engineering Change": "Cool Cat Teacher" Vicki Davis - Bring Stories, Cellphones and Laptops!! Those going to NCTIES - get out your cameras and share a video on youtube. Can you do it? Will be heading to NCTIES and California in a week and a half and am so excited! tags : education , learning , conference Virtual Worlds in Education: Workshop Peggy Sheehy is going to this to represent educators. tags : education , learning , opensim Google Earth KML: Sites of Ancient Rome Google earth is just so cool. Time to become familiar with it if you are a history teacher -- you can download this file and tour ancient rome. tags : education , learning , Googleearth Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Cover via Amazon This week I sat down and read a book by my friend, teacher, Phillip Done, 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny: Life Lessons from Teaching . He is an elementary teacher and has won numerous awards for his teaching and success. To me, the thing I liked most about the book (in addition to the funny stories) is the fact that it brings into clear focus just how human and messy the teaching process is. Maybe it resonates with me because I'm a piler too (see his chapter on the types of teachers.) My room is usually the messiest one in the building but is also the one that is overflowing with kids who want to be there. Most often, they are working on my class although my class is long since done! One of my favorite parts of the book is called, "Interview Questions" (p 136-138) -- I'm quoting a bit of it here: "The other day I was thinking about the time when I interviewed for my first teaching job. It is hard to believe it has been twenty years. I ...

flatclassroom09-1 » home First Quarter 2009 flat classroom project. This is now running 3 times per year both with and without Julie and I as we mentor and help it grow. tags : education , flatclassroom Sync : Set Up Your iPhone or iPod Touch - Mobile Help Great news for you PC users who love your iphone or itouch - you can now synch all your google cal's to your itouch -- OH BABY, this makes my weekend! tags : education , learning , iphone , itouch , professionaldevelopment , edu_news Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

YouTube - digiteendreamteam's Channel This is the video strand of the Digiteen Island OpenSim project - they are documenting with video what others are doing. This is our reflective piece of the project. These students have just learned how to make videos and are getting better at it daily. tags : education , learning Digiteen Dream Team: How To Create Landmarks In OpenSim My students on the "jing strand" of digiteen are doing a very nice job teaching others how to do things in OpenSim (works the same in Second Life) - in this tutorial, you learn how to make landmarks. tags : education , learning , opensim , tutorial , howto Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

LSL Wiki : LSLTutorials A list of LSL tutorials - this is the scripting language used in Second Life and OpenSim. It is a good idea to go through tutorials onlines. tags : education , learning FOXNews.com - Facebook Does About-Face on Privacy Change - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News Facebook changes their mind about their new privacy rules. tags : education , facebook Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Can I choose which Applications show up on my network? OK, a new feature in Ning is apps -- if you're a teacher, you may not know it is there. Make sure that you either turn this off or filter out which apps they can add. Do it now if you Ning! tags : education , applications , tips YouTube - digiteendreamteam's Channel Students are sharing what they learn and what they're doing. This is a start, but is done by our video documentation strand of the project. They are building in an opensim. tags : education , digiteen YouTube - A woman missed her flight at the boarding gate HKIA The new viral hit - beware how you act in public it could end up on youtube. Losing your temper could just become a huge embarrssment as it has for this woman who missed her flight in Hong Kong. No place for hysteria to hide any more. (Interestingly, it explains why one of my students turned to the other this morning and said, "Don't go Hong Kong on me, man." Ah - in 4 days. Thi...

Image by WangXiang via Flickr Ode to Virtuality I keep getting stuck in the wall teleporting to a shack in the air and then I fall stuck in  box, wearing a cube running into someone and feeling like a rube Mixing up my controls and walking off cliffs messing up the sim when I write a bad script falling up, falling down, heck, I even fell sideways but my students are happily working these days. But even though I sometimes am a bit slow this is the way I must learn to teach, I know. The power, the strength, we're on the cusp of change again we move forward though many stay the same. To OpenSim , virtual worlds , we embark and builds Notecards, objects, scripting , an emerging of guilds. Learning so much, and yet, still needing more Thankful to learn.  Thrilled to explore. Invention, learning, creativity, choice - this is NetGen whether you like it or not, they fill the classroom you're in. Time to evolve, to create anew to build a newer, a virtual you. ...

Banlieue Blog Flat Classroom teacher, Chris Chater from the American School in Paris highly recommends this cooking blogger. Chris is a really cool cook and has great taste so check it out. tags : education , cooking Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

REFLECTION - Flat Classroom Conference Emily wrote a particularly touching blog post reflecting on the Flat Classroom conference, she says: " I feel like a better person now that I’m home. I have tolerance for people that are different to me. I can understand that people are different, eat different foods, dress differently and talk differently." We WILL have a conference next year -- start planning now - we hope to announce the location at some point in the next few months. tags : education , learning , flatclassroom ABC News: On Campus ABC has a newly designed website expanding on their citizen journalism program for college students. According to ABC: this program "will enable any college student the opportunity to pitch and potentially develop and produce a story under the guidance of ABC News. " What a great opportunity!! I wish textbook companies and others allowed people to have citizen journalist contributions. tags : education , learning Posted from Diigo ...

So many times it is the little things that really get our ire. Today, for me, it was a steady marching stream of tiny little insect-like annoyances.  And wham, before I knew it, these annoyances swarmed to steal my joy and my enjoyment of what I was doing! Ants can kill in swarms. And so can little, petty annoyances if allowed to fester, get you angry, and bite at your enjoyment. For many teachers it is the relentless paperwork. Today,a fellow teacher  here who left the public school system, shared her "swarm."  She left teaching there largely because of the disdainful way she was treated by the state because her school wasn't meeting AYP.  She said it was humiliating and that people who had NEVER been in the classroom talked to her like she was not a professional!  She is a great teacher and had been there two years!! Another teacher said it was the mainstreaming that really got her -- students who really belonged separate or couldn't read and were ...

Main Page - Second Life Wikia This is the Second Life wikia where you can go to look up terminology. tags : education , secondlife Education - Annotated Read the education plan from the new White House for the US. Some good things here and some things that may be hard to implement. What do you think? Join diigo and mark up the page - there are already quite a few annotations. tags : education , learning , government , edu_news Behaving Well Online, Middle School Edition « Megan Golding Great post from Megan Golding for her middle school students. Very nice! tags : education , learning , netiquette Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

If you and I follow each other on Twitter , you'll know that my ninth graders (a/k/a the Digiteen Dream Team) have been building a virtual world to teach digital citizenship on ReactionGrid, and OpenSim .  Boy, I'm a total beginner (feel about like this kitty on a laptop) but learning a lot, so I'm planning to share the things I've learned with you. Just remember I'm a beginner - if you're a supergeek then head over to Beth Ritter-Guth , Peggy Sheehy , or Kevin Jarrett and the other many educators who leave me in the dust, but if you're trying to figure this out, maybe this will help!  I'm putting this in my own words, so I hope the experts will correct me if I mess up. Basic Terminology Virtual World - A virtual world, some call a metaverse, is a place where you can operate in 3d environment.  Everything is in 3d space which means it has x, y, and z coordinates for those who actually start building in these worlds.  There are many out there,...